Adyghe Sounds

Learn how to pronounce all the sounds of the standard dialect of the Adyghe / West Circassian language. Hear example words for every sound in various contexts, find detailed phonetic descriptions and illustrations that are used in professional linguistics or just follow the practical tips at the end of the description of every sound. Every difficult linguistic term is linked to a glossary entry, so you can expand your knowledge of phonetics in no time!

Perhaps you are learning the Adyghe language and struggling to utter words like пшъашъэ ‘girl’ or Уипчыхьэ шIу! ‘Good evening!’ – this app is for you! Or maybe you would just like to be able to pronounce sounds at almost every possible place in your mouth in the most exotic ways – after all, only around 16 of the 55 Adyghe sounds occur in English – then feel free to dig in to the riches of this beautiful language.

Here is some basic information about the language for those who do not know anything about it yet: Adyghe or West Circassian is a language (or dialect) in the Circassian branch of the Northwest Caucasian languages. It is spoken by more than 100.000 people in the Russian Federation, mainly in the Republic of Adygea in the Caucasus, and by tens of thousands of people in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and other countries.

Linguistically, Adyghe is well known for its exotic and very complex phonetic system: The literary dialect has 55 consonant phonemes (basic sounds), other dialects have up to 60 phonemes. The multitude of consonants in Adyghe results from the opposition between voiced, voiceless and glottalic (ejective) and between labialized and non-labialized manners of articulation.

Adyghe is closely related to East Circassian, also known as Kabardian. The West and East Circassians call themselves the adyg (адыг). Because Adyghe and in Kabardian share most sounds, with Adyghe having even more, this guide will be useful for learners of Kabardian as well!